Ghosts Aren't Real
__NOEDITSECTION__ 'Notice: ' this fanfic is an adaptation of the Ghosts Aren't Real RP, created by Aquamine. Fanfic is written by Feather, Cloud, Pink, and Echo. The link can be found here. Prologue Among the dense forested trees was a single, large clearing. It was bare, slightly overgrown with scruffy grasses and endless masses of weeds. Cabins were scattered quite randomly around the clearing, all empty, save one. Chimaera looked seriously at the other staff of Camp Topaz Tear. "I don't think we should open this summer," they growled. The staff members were seated in their cabin, facing each other in a circle on the floor. They all wore serious expressions. Well, all except one - Hibiscus flared her bright pink ruff and smiled at the other staff. "Aw, come on," she cried, a little too brightly. "It'll be fine!" A few other dragons exchanged eyerolls. What a weirdo, ''they all seemed to be thinking. Dolphin sighed, and said in his thick, slow drawl, "You really think so, Hibiscus?" Hibiscus bobbed her sky-colored head. Salak twitched, her face uncharacteristically serious. "I'm not so sure... I mean, Hibiscus, I know you're excited- I am too! But, if it's not safe...?" Chimaera glared at the pink and blue hybrid. "And put dragonets in danger?" they hissed, amber eyes narrowed, "No way." Audun frowned. "Who cares?" he said harshly, flicking his poisonous tail. "The little brats will be fine." Gypsy scowled at him. "Remind me why you hired him?" the SilkWing growled to the other staff. One of the other staff, Cappuccino, scrunched up her brows. "Hibiscus might be right," the amber RainWing admitted. "It would be a shame not to open..." Chimaera sighed as Hibiscus beamed. "Fine," they growled slowly. "But... should we tell them about the... issues?" Hibiscus shook her head. "No reason to distress them," she trilled cheerfully. The staff exchanged a few uncertain glances before each slowly nodded- and Hibiscus announced gleefully, "Let's open up Camp Topaz Tear!" Chapter One It was a week later, when the camp opened, that the young dragonets came. A small MudWing-SkyWing with big wings soared into the camp, landing on a patch of especially dense grass. She could practically feel the bugs running under the green cover, but ignored that, instead focusing on the camp. There were cabins scattered all over. She had thought they would spend queasy nights sleeping on the ground, but it seemed they would have decent beds after all. The place seemed almost deserted, and she got the feeling she was the only one there… but the camp staff had to be somewhere. She took a step into this new place, excitement mingling into her emotions. She stretched her wings one last time before tucking them in, feeling ready for this camp. As she settled down on the steps of a cabin to wait, carving absently at a piece of wood, she noticed one more emotion tumbling through her, pushed away but now clearly present: apprehension. The little hybrid shook it off. There was nothing to fear. The fearful, wary thoughts melted away, as she was absorbed into the carving of the wood. ---- Poison sauntered into Destiny Cabin, ignoring the holes she was burning through the floor. The staff had come to greet her and the rest of the dragonets, but she hadn't stuck around for that- she had decided to go get settled in her cabin. She didn't need some coddling dragons holding her talons. She didn't notice Pipit in the corner, for the little hybrid was in her blind spot and the room was dark. Poison's first thought was, ''This place is a total dump. ''There was ratty floral curtains billowing around a boarded over window, and seven creaky beds were lined up on the opposite wall. Poison wrinkled her nose at the murky red-brown stains on the sheets. The slimy purple-black RainWing curled up under the window, burning a large crater in the scuffed floor under her. She sighed and gazed at a scroll on one of the cots, wondering what it said. ---- Meanwhile, Cappuccino was leading Salak and Hibiscus into the group of dragonets that were circled in the center of the clearing. Her warm, honey-amber scales were gleaming with shades of shimmery gold in the sunlight. "Welcome to Camp Topaz Tear," Salak, a mottled green, blue, and tan RainWing said proudly. Her talons were fidgeting, as if she couldn't sit still. Beside Salak, a little sky-colored dragoness skipped cheerfully over the grass studded ground, a huge smile plastered over her face. She had bright pink webbing, claws, horns, and a ruff of the same color. Pale, cotton candy colored luminescent stripes trailed up her long neck and face. Cappuccino nodded. "I will assign you to your cabins. Each cabin will hold seven dragonets- this camp is small, there will be more cabins when we expand." ''We'll only expand if we live through this summer, ''her mind whispered grimly. She shook off the thought. "Muskovy, Poison, Pipit, Luminescent, Nefarious, and Avium are in Destiny Cabin." She scanned the crowd of dragonets. "Wait, where are Poison and Pipit?" She sighed and gave up on looking eventually. "Next, in Faith cabin..." Chapter Two In Destiny Cabin, Poison looked up from her spot on the floor. Her eye narrowed, thinking sharp, critical thoughts about her roommates, who were bustling around the cabin, setting their things on their beds. ''Jerk, ''she thought, gazing at one. ''Messy. Fidgety. Another jerk. Annoyingly positive. ''Her immense black eye was clear and bright, and no dragon could see the thoughts she was having about them, though they seemed surprised by her acid drippy poisonous look. She stared at the dragon entering Destiny Cabin. ''Who do we have here? ''she wondered. The dragon was a SilkWing with soft, buttery yellow scales and brown horns. A smooth black lining ran under her sunshiney scales. Poison was surprised to see she had no wings- how could she fly? "Oh, hi," the new dragon said. Poison raised one eyebrow at the growl-like tone in the SilkWing's voice. Poison watched the dragon fidget, glancing out the window nervously. "I'm Tigersilk. Have any of you seen... er, odd things around here?" A small black dragonet stepped forward, trembling a bit. Her brightly colored underscales were rolling with the shades of fizzy lime green that Poison knew from watching the other RainWings represented nervousness. "N-no... why?" she asked quietly. Poison frowned at the yellow dragon before letting out a gravelly laugh. "My, aren't you subtle. Could you be anymore obvious?" Her frown deepened suddenly and her voice lowered. "But- if you don't mind my asking- what things?" Poison didn't care if she'd offended the SilkWing. She was curious. Besides, most dragons were too surprised by her odd and disturbing appearance to care if she was tactful or not. Tigersilk shook her head. "Nothing. I just... thought I saw something." The yellow dragon looked down, rubbing her shoulder. Nefarious, Poison realized, was the name of the RainWing like dragonet- she had heard the camp staff call her that when they led her to the cabin. "Like what? I've seen my fair share of weird things... like nightmares... so many nightmares..." Nefa trailed off, her eyes staring at nothing. Tigersilk looked up. "I-" she stopped, sucking in a breath. "I thought I saw this... like, transluscent SeaWing. He stared at me and then- disappeared." By the look in the dragon's eyes, Poison knew she was nervous. Just as she opened her mouth to reply, Nefarious looked up. "Oh, huh? Um, sorry sometimes I drift off..." The little hybrid pulled her wings in, embarassment spreading across her face. Poison nearly snorted. ''Seriously? So, we have delusional roommate and weirdo hybrid who just "drifts off"? I want to go home already... '' She lashed her tail, sending a spray of purple acid flying across the room. It hit the walls, burning boiling holes through the walls. Poison hoped it hadn't hit anyone. At any rate, nobody had screamed. Yet. She yawned. "I'm bored," she complained to no one in particular. "Your silly dreams are quite dull." She watched Tigersilk, waiting for a reaction, but the yellow dragoness only stared intently at a burning acid spot in the wall. "If you're bored, we could go to the lake," Nefarious suggested, sitting down on her bed. Poison shrugged, sending a few more beads of venom flying off her slim shoulders. Her good eye squinted at Nefa. "Okay," she said, surprising herself. "Let's go," She stood up, the other dragons close on her heels. She veered away as Nefa stepped a bit too close. "Oops," she said, gentler than usual. "Be careful. Don't touch me. It'll hurt you quite badly." She heard Tigersilk sigh, and watched a bit guiltily as the SilkWing swerved to avoid stepping in any acid puddles on the ground. Poison noticed Nefa following slowly, and glared at her, displaying how quickly her mood could change. "Hurry up," she snapped at the hybrid, her expression going from neutral to irritated in a matter of seconds. She padded faster, leaving the other dragonesses following slowly. She spotted the pink and blue hybrid staff member- what was her name again? Hibiscus? talking to a plump gray SeaWing. Hibiscus waved at them with a smile that was almost creepily bright. "Hi, dragonets!" she squealed. The gray SeaWing gave them a lazy, but much less manic smile and followed Hibiscus over to them. "Be careful near the lake," the SeaWing warned, in a slow, gentle drawl. "It's very deep in the middle- and while I'm sure most of you know how tto swim, be careful anyways." All three dragonets nodded, while Hibiscus wrung her talons and looked anxiously out at the forest. Poison wondered why the little hybrid was so jumpy all of the sudden, but shook it off and turned in the direction of the lake. Poison's face became even again, no trace of her earlier moodiness left in her neutral expression. "Where is the lake?" she asked calmly, turning to Nefa. "I think it's that way," Nefa replie, pointing to behind the cabins. Poison spotted the lake and sprinted over to it, her black eye shining. "Sweet," she crowed, throwing herself into the cool, shadowy water. Her acid bubbled in the lake as she paddles around. Tigersilk and Nefa watched from the bank. "I'm ninety-three percent sure that water is not safe for the rest of us now," Nefa almost laughed. Poison actually grinned. "Nah, don't worry- the water neutralizes my acid, so it can't burn you. It is sticky though, and my brothers used to tell me it was horribly gross to get on your scales." She flipped onto her back and floated on the water's murky surface, her slimey purple belly upturned to the sun. Her acid bubbled in the water like small violet jellyfish, as harmless now as regular sludge. "But I wouldn't know, because it is ''always ''on mine." Nefa waded in. "Maybe you're used to it, but if I get my wings burned off, you're a sheep." she joked, stepping where the water was more or less clean. Poison wrinkled her nose at the hybrid. "Please," she snorted. "I am totally harmless now." Poison looked up as she saw a short, dark scaled dragonet approaching. She stood on the water's edge on dipped her talons in, before looking up at Poison and Nefa swmming. Poison saw Tigersilk nod to the dragonet, who was already wading into the lake. The dragonet appeared to be a hybrid, like Nefa- she had black scales that overlapped with glowing ones, and gills, despite her clearly NightWing build. The dragonet swam gracefully over to Poison, and smiled a bit nervously. "Hi, I'm Luminescent, but you can call me Lumi," she said to Poison, who was about to say hello when she saw a flash of silver in her peripheral vision. ''What the moons was that...? ''Poison's belly did some kind of flop, and she felt herself going oddly still. She swung her head at the new hybrid dragonet, to see if she had seen it too. "Did you see that?" Luminescent gasped, meeting Poison's gaze. Poison nodded, wide eyed, sending a flurry of slime and water through the air. "-yes. I did." She looked at Nefa, who was bobbing anxiously in the water, and Tigersilk who was still on the bank of the lake, not seeming to understand the expressions on the other dragonets faces. Poison narrowed her eyes. "Should we go check it out?" Nefa began paddled out of the water. "Alright then..." she said slowly, stopping at the bank and clambering out to stand, trembling a bit, next to Tigersilk. Luminescent shook her head wildly as Poison started to follow Nefa out of the water. "If the camp is in danger... but if it's dangerous, someone should do something... but not me. No." Poison hauled herself out of the water, Lumi close behind. She peered out into the forest to see if she could see the silver thing again, but she couldn't find it. She turned to Luminescent. "Come on," she wheedled. She gave a mighty shake, sending another spray of acid through the air. Both Nefa and Tigersilk knew now to duck, but Lumi simply watched it go by. Poison wondered briefly if the Night/Sea hybrid knew how dangerous she was. The slime landed on the grass and sizzled through it. "I promise you'll be safe," Poison said. She snorted. "Obviously. I can shake my tail and kill seven dragons." She gave another snort as Nefa went wide eyed. "I'm not going to," she said, rolling her eyes. "Now, are you coming?" Nefa nodded a little shakily, while Luminescent trudged after Poison. "If you're sure," she said. A shudder creeped up Poison's spine as a scream echoes from the forest. It was blood-curdling- but was it a dragon? Poison couldn't tell. Chapter Three Avi landed on a layer of dead leaves with a ''crunch. A few crackles followed as she looked around and started towards the general direction of the camp. She had landed a little further away from the camp than she would have liked, but her wings were tired from the long journey. Her bags dragged behind her. Her luggage wasn't excessive, but one wouldn't say she packed lightly either. A glimmering lake appeared in the distant horizon, as well as the silhouettes of a few wood cabins. She passed a rustic-looking welcome sign, Finally, I’m here. Camp Topaz Tear, she thought to herself. The Skywing-Icewing wasn’t quite sure why she had decided to come here, but she suspected it was partly because she wanted to take a break and go somewhere... different, where she could relax, or maybe even have an adventure. Suddenly, as if it was pushed, a large bough snapped off and dropped on top of one of her bags, and she turned around and tried to pull it free. "Great moons," she whispered, feeling a slight bit unsettled. She tugged the bag out from the debris, checked if anything inside had broken, (nothing had), and continued towards the camp. She emerged from the trees into the clearing. A fidgety staff member had rounded up all the campers, directing them to which cabin they were staying in. After taking a quick break for the restroom, she headed for hers, the Destiny cabin. There were a few others staying in the cabin, from what she could see. Wondering if there was a story behind the naming of these cabins, she lost focus and almost walked into the cabin wall, jolting to a stop just in time. Silently laughing at herself, she stepped sideways and poked her head into the cabin. Seeing the other dragonets already inside, she suddenly became nervous. What are they going to be like? I hope they aren't mean. Avi heard a loud, alarming scream, then a yelp from behind the cabin. Her eyes widened in surprise. "What was that?" She mumbled to herself, part of her eager for adventure and the other scared out of her wits. The other dragonets seemed preoccupied with unpacking, so she left her bags in a corner of the cabin and went out back to investigate. There would be time to meet the others later. Something made her freeze right before she left the room. She felt cold air move beside her. Maybe it was her frostbreath. She never knew, with breath weapons that usually cancelled each other out. Yet something wasn't quite right. That air hadn't come from her snout. She shook it off. I was just nervous. It was nothing, she told herself. A trail of ominous footprints led into the forest. Though they were shaped like a dragon’s, they didn’t look like any footprints she’d ever seen, like whatever had left them burned everything they touched. Strangely enough, they didn’t appear to smolder, or be warm at all. Avi followed silently, in case the burn-print creature was dangerous. ---- Nefa pricked her ears. "W-what was that? OKAY I AGREE WITH YOU NOW." Poison frowned, but said nothing as she trudged on. She gave a little backwards jump as a howling sound echoed through the air. "This is creepy..." said Nefa. Then, a few moments later, "I AM FREAKED OUT." Poison jumped away as a huge spider descended from a tree. "Yeowch!" "We had spiders in the Rainforest, remember?" Poison scowled as she rubbed her sludgy wings around herself. "So? That doesn't mean liked them." Luminescent yelped, backing away. She took a deep breath. "A- are you sure we should keep going?" She asked Poison as she watched the spider scuttle away. Poison kept her eyes on the spider as it disappeared. "Yes," she said firmly. "I am going on. Just remember that you are safer here with me than walking to the cabin alone." After a minute or so of walking, Avi saw three dragonets ahead of her. She bounded towards them, a bit relieved that she wasn’t alone in this creepy forest anymore. A spider scuttled across her path. She screeched and hopped backwards. "EW A spider! Goawaygoawaygoaway!" "Hush, it's not poisonous." Nefa said, letting the spider crawl on her talon. Poison scowled. "She shouldn't be worried about that, considering I am poison. In more ways than one. And plus, just cause it's not poisonous doesn't mean she likes it." "But it's creepy and crawly and I just know that those eight beady little eyes are watching us..." Avi shivered, still wary of the arachnid. "What I don't get is why people don't like them. Now let's go back,” said Nefa. But they're SPIDERS! Avi protested silently to herself. Poison flicked her tail, sending a few droplets of acid flying past the other dragonets. "No way," she snapped. She stomped forward, ignoring her cabinmates. "Bye." "Welp, I'm going back the cabin." Nefa said, bounding toward the camp. Luminescent followed Poison, still scared, but even more curious. Besides, it was unlikely something was even there. When suddenly, she stopped. It was distant, very faint... but, yes, it was definitely there... A bone-chilling scream. She guessed that these three were the rest of the Destiny cabin. She couldn't blame the Rainwing-Nightwing for wanting to go back. These woods had some sort of sinister air to them. In the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a wisp of something mist-like, gone when she blinked. She looked up at the cloudy sky. It stared blankly back, as if saying, "I have no idea what you saw either." Curious, and seeing no point in going back when she had only just arrived, she followed the other two deeper into the woods. Poison trudged along, carefully keeping her tail away from Luminescent and Avi as they followed. A soft trilling noise warbled through the trees. Poison tried to hide her trembling. Luminescent shuddered before continuing, deciding the scream was just her imagination. She hoped they found some reasonable, non-threatening explanation for all of this that was NOT a ghost. Avi followed along, hoping to find out what these weird things she had been seeing were. Maybe it was a ghost... That would certainly be interesting. Chapter Four A streak of blue darted through the trees. Pale pink flashed from behind bushes. As Hibiscus moved, she wished all of her scales could change color- if any of those dragonets saw her... She shuddered. I can't believe I'm doing this, she thought, squeezing between to blackberry thickets. But my reward will be great. It's all worth it, for him... The Rain-Sea hybrid's heart pounded- this was so risky. But they were going to help her, so she needn't be afraid. But if they're good, a small part of her hissed, Why did they take him in the first place? She shook her head, her bubblegum pink ruff tinged at the edges with lime green. Just a little farther, she thought, her eyes lighting up. I'm so close to him... I swear I can feel his scales against mine... Hibiscus looked up hopefully, but when she saw nothing, her teeth clenched. It isn't fair, she wanted to wail. I want him back! She grabbed the first thing she saw- a tiny mouse that had scurried across her path. Rage seething from her, she grabbed the creature and mercilessly ripped it apart. She clawed its tiny pelt off, anger reddening her vision as its blood splattered against her scales. You'll die just like he did, she thought, breathing hard. You helpless creature... and you're not the last thing I'll kill! "Hibiscus? Where are you? It's lunch time!" Hibiscus' head shot up, and she dropped the mouse's crumpled body in the dirt. She hastily wiped her blood-stained claws on the ground, following Dolphin's voice. "One moment!" she called back, her voice bright and bubbly. "I'm not hungry! I won't be coming!" There was a pause, before Dolphin replied, "If you're sure!" And then the flip flappy sounds of his webbed claws walking away, back to camp. "Stop interrupting my plans, you idiot..." she muttered under her breath, in a tone as hard and cold as steel. "Don't make me follow their advice... and get rid of you too, Dolphin..." She continued on, her ruff returning to its usual pink color as she walked, until the trees started becoming fewer. Her eyes gleamed as she saw the soft reddish glow coming from behind one of the trees- she knew that color. Her blue eyes glinted as she saw a little dragonet there, facing the RainWing ghost. She flashed a smile of pearly, clean fangs. The dragonet looked terrified, her scales blindingly acid green, her eyes large and scared- but Komo was smiling. Hibiscus smiled at the dragonet again, though she wasn't sure if the little RainWing could even see her, and almost sinister in the way she did it, she moved past the clearing, deeper into the trees. There was no doubt that Komo had a plan for the RainWing- even if Hibiscus wasn't sure what it was... 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